


Dinner for Twenty Six at Winter's Child

by NyxEtoile, OlivesAwl



Series: Legacy of the Tower [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Original Work
Genre: Children of the Tower, Food, Gen, Next Generation, Reunions, Team as Family, restaurant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 18:12:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13932525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxEtoile/pseuds/NyxEtoile, https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlivesAwl/pseuds/OlivesAwl
Summary: You are cordially invited to the soft opening of Winter's Child, the hottest new restaurant in NYC. Edith Barnes and Ruby Stark-Potts proprietors.In which the children of our favorite heroes get together to eat, gossip, and celebrate the success of one of their own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read our [Tales from the Tower](http://archiveofourown.org/series/190958) series, this probably isn't for you. Please feel free to go read it and then come back.
> 
> For those that have read Tales, this is the start of a spin off series Olives and I have been contemplating for almost a year now. The (perfectly normal) adventures of the team's kids. This is basically an introduction and we have a couple stories finished. Not sure who or how many we'll be doing, but we have ideas for several of the kids and found them a nice palate cleanser between longer epics.
> 
> We hope you enjoy.
> 
> (Second chapter is a complete list of kids for easy reference.)

Ruby Stark-Potts had never needed to learn how to cook. As a child, her family had had a chef. With her mother's diet preferences and her father's ever lengthening list of medical problems, having someone trained in nutrition and meal balancing had gone from a luxury to a necessity. There had been the odd Sunday brunch when her father had give the chef the day off and cooked himself, often roping Ruby and her brothers into it. She could make a mean omelette and a decent chocolate chip pancake. As an adult she could manage a few simple meals. But for the most part, she relied on professionals to feed her.

So it was handy, really, that her best friend had ended up being a chef. She and Edith Barnes had a unique relationship. The unremarkable children of wholly remarkable people. They'd been the oldest of the original Avenger team's children, save for Bruce Banner's two adopted children. But Ada had been older, too old to count as on of the "cousins" as Ruby thought of them. She'd always seemed more like the youngest adult than the oldest child. And besides, she'd been remarkable even as a toddler and had grown up to be an Avenger in her own right. As for her brother Neil, his mother liked to tell people how a doctor had once solemnly informed her he'd never read and certainly never finish high school. Currently, he was a professor at Stanford, teaching Geology and Archeology to packed classes with waiting lists. The last time Ruby had talked to him he'd mentioned something about a growing interest in art history. She wouldn't be surprised to wake up one day and hear he'd changed careers to become an art restorer.

It was she and Edie who had grown up fully in the shadow of their parents, with no clear path or passion to call their own, with siblings who were quite happily following in their parents' footsteps. It had been natural, really, to bond together. And maybe it was also natural that, when Edie had found her passion, her dream, Ruby had been there to help her make it a reality.

Winter's Child was already creating buzz on the New York culinary scene, despite not officially opening yet. It wasn't everyday an Avenger's child opened a restaurant, she supposed. And just this once, they were willing to ride their parents' fame a little.

“It’s opening night. Are you sure I shouldn’t come?”

“It’s more of a preview. And you’re in Hawaii, so no, you shouldn’t.” She shouldn’t have picked up the phone when she saw her father’s number. “Being 12 hours away and all.”

“I could be there in 4 hours in a suit,” he replied. He was trudging towards 80. He hadn’t put on an Iron Man suit in a good decade.

“You could, but then Aunt Amanda would murder you. Don’t you want to meet your grandchild?”

Across the kitchen, she could see Edie’s eyebrows go up. Ruby rolled her eyes. After a moment of silence, her father asked, “Are you pregnant?”

“If you do something suicidal, you’ll never find out. Edie’s calling me, gotta go.” She hung up before she could reply. After a beat she changed apps and texted her mother. _Ignore Dad. Not pregnant._

"Did you just imply you were pregnant to get your father to _not_ fly across the country in a tin can?" Edie asked mildly, puttering with vegetables.

“His mind is a quirky place. And he doesn’t have any suits out there, even if FRIDAY would let him in.” When he’d had an artificial heard installed five years ago, he’d given operational control of FRIDAY to Ada, who’d never given it back.  
"Well, good. I don't want him giving any of my staff a heart attack." She finished her fiddling and wiped her hands on a towel. "Though I suppose my brother could fix them if they did.”

Edie’s brother Roger was a doctor, and kind of an over-achiever. He was halfway through his residency for cardiac surgery. Roger was pretty much exactly what the universe expected the child of Bucky Barnes and Amanda Newbury to come out as. Just like Ruby’s brothers where just the sort of boys Tony Stark and Pepper Potts ought to produce—a brilliant engineer and a brilliant executive. Steering the company and running a massive charitable foundation. George dated movie stars and AJ was a UN peace ambassador.

Ruby wasted money, and probably disappointed her parents, though god bless them they’d never say so.

With one last scan of her crew, Edie turned to Ruby. She was a softer featured version of her mother, with icy blue eyes, an even bitchier resting bitch face, and a way of walking that made one think of a prowling panther. Her dark hair was cut short and spiky, currently dyed red at the tips and tucked under a black scarf to keep it out of her face. "It's seven. The cousins will be arriving soon. I'm gonna prep the servers and open the doors."

“Fifty bucks says at least one Rogers is already outside.”

"I say it's at least two." The Rogers kids were incapable of being late. Two of the three were coming from out of town, and they’d probably still be early.

“What can I do to be useful?” Ruby asked.

Edie seemed to consider it. "Help wrangle the cousins. We're gonna seat them all at one big table, but each section will get assigned to a server. Once people are sitting I don't want them moving around. It you want to pitch in getting water glasses or whatnot, that's fine, but for the most part you can just. . . be the host, I guess.”

“Should I let them sit where they want or should I assign?”

"Assign. Make sure the big egos don't clump together.”

“Got it.” She went out into the dining room. She could, in fact, see Joey Rogers out on the sidewalk, pacing in circles as he talked on his phone. Under the hostess station she found the box of business cards that had been stuck there after they were delivered that morning. She flipped them over and wrote names on them. Edie hadn’t asked for RSVPs, she didn’t want to make it a big thing, and also felt a surprise volume would be a good tester. Ruby would have to assign seats on the fly.

Her phone beeped and she looked to see a text from George. _Flight’s late. Got held up at SFO. Fog sucks._

 _Why were you at SFO at all?_ He lived in LA. 

Ruby could see Edie had come out and was instructing the servers in setting up a bunch of tables into a big long one. 

_Picking up a passengers,_ came George's reply, which didn't help her at all, but that was George. He'd fully inherited their father's love of surprises.

 _If you’re bringing one of your bimbos I’m going to punch you in the face._ He’d inherited Dad’s predisposition towards womanizing, too.

_I'm sorry I can't hear you, the connection is terrible._

_God damn it, jackass, no guests at the cousin dinner!_

There was no reply, no matter how she glared at the phone. For a moment she debated telling Edie, but decided against it. She had enough stress as it was. Ruby could deal with it when George got here.

For now she wrote down the names of all the local cousins and opened the door for Joey. He gave her a warm hug when he saw her, lifting her off the ground. He was a big bear of a man, taller and broader than his father, with the same disarming smile.

“I’m going to give you your own special time,” Ruby told him. “Tell you half an hour later just so you’ll be on time.”

"There's no crime in being early.”

She blew raspberries. “Don’t lawyer me.”

"It's second nature." He kissed her cheek and set her down, stepping inside. "It does get tiring being the first one all the time.”

She laughed. “Is it also tiring being the best at everything, too?”

"Exhausting," he confirmed, then grinned as Edie came over. "Hello cuz." He hugged her as fiercely as he had Ruby. "Congrats on the restaurant."

"Thanks for coming.”

“I would not have missed it for anything.”

"Is this the line for hugs?" a quiet voice said at Ruby's shoulder. She turned to find Asima Banner there, looking fresh from a shower, long hair damp and braided down her back. She smiled widely when Ruby looked at her and held her arms out. "Hello. It feels like ages."

“You made it!” Ruby wrapped her in a hug. Asima actually lived in New York, but she was in the middle of her medical residency and kind of lived in the hospital.

Asima hugged her tight. "I owe three people favors and will be on call for the foreseeable future. But I get a fancy meal so I'll live.”

She hugged Edie and Joey, and Ruby went to get her cards. “Do you guys know who-if-any of your siblings are coming?” She expected yes on Jamie Rogers and no on Asima’s older siblings; Neil lived in California and Ada—being both an Avenger and gods-honest Princess—they’d decided was too intimidating for the test-run. She wasn’t sure about the remaining two—they both also lived in DC but hadn’t come up with Joey.

"AB called me," Asima said. "He's in a cab on the way over." Antoine Banner worked at a special needs school just outside the Beltway. "He said Mags was with him.” Maggie Rogers was at Georgetown Law School.

Ruby turned and looked at Joey, who said, “I came up last night, put some meetings on the docket since I was going to be in town.”

"Do you know if Jamie is coming?”

“He lives four miles away, if he doesn’t show I’m going to go get him.”

She laughed and scribbled on her cards. "Anybody heard from any of the others?”

“I talked to Esther last week and she said ‘pretty much everybody’ was coming,” Joey said. “Which I think means she is stuffing the entire Taschengregger/Maximoff herd into a bus and driving down here. But that’s just a guess.” 

Ruby pointed at Edie. “See, told you we’d need the 16 seater.”

“That’s actually 17,” Asima said. 

"You forgot Judith again, didn't you?" Edie said.

Ruby ignored her, counting on fingers.

"I'm going to get them to add more tables. You guys hang out, one of the servers will be over in a minute to get drink orders.”

“Make it 20,” Ruby called after her. “We’ll have at least one or two of the Wilson or Bennett girls.”

"Got it."

The rest of them mingled as Ruby did math and the servers hovered around getting orders and moving tables. Rei Wilson arrived, to another round of hugs, followed closely by Ellie Bennet. Ruby gestured for another table to get added on and redid her mental seating chart.

Ellie came over. “Hey, I heard you’re doing seating. Franny and Annie are coming. They hitched a ride with your brothers.

“Well, that explains the SFO.”

"Yeah. I'm told there was fog."

That was good, the Bennet sisters were all practical and good at calming people and defusing awkward situations. Ruby spread them out evenly around the table. She separated George and Jr, as well as Roger Barnes, who were the three biggest egos at the table. Everyone else she clumped by general age or interest.

Everyone was enjoying their drinks when Ruby finished the seating arrangements. The crew from upstate arrived, along with Sasha Wilson, causing them to have to squeeze in another chair.

Ruby just went to get a drink herself when AB found her. “I hate to ask you to rearrange the table. . .”

Wisely, she took a swallow before asking, “But you are?”

He held up his phone. “Neil texted me a list of who he does and does not want to sit near.”

Her brows went up. "Wait. Neil is coming?”

“Yes. They’re about to land at JFK. Apparently your brother has changed the brand of pretzels they have on the plane at some point since Christmas and Neil is unhappy about that. He doesn’t want to sit by George.” He turned his phone back to read the list. “Or Inez, because she talks too fast. Or you, unless you’ve changed your perfume to something with less sandalwood.”

Yes, he had complained about that at Christmas, hadn't he? "Does he mention anyone he would _like_ to sit next to?”

“Any sibling, Franny, any Rogers or Wilson, or Judith Taschengregger unless she’s in a bad mood.” He said that like he was quoting it verbatim.

She scanned the table a moment, shuffling things in her head. "What are his feelings on Roger Barnes?”

AB typed on his phone, then after a moment replied, “Kind of boring.”

"I can work with that. Tell him he's between Asima and Franny with Rei and Judith across from him.”

He reached out and squeezed her arm. “Thanks.”

"Not a problem." Neil had his quirks, but no more than any other person. She'd rather accommodate them then have him uncomfortable or skip these sort of events.

Everyone but the West Coast crew was there, so she set out the place cards and went to go warn Edie. "We have a full house. Twenty six people."

She frowned and did math in her head, brow furrowed. "Wait, the Californians are coming?”

“All of them. Even Neil. They’re on George’s plane.”

Edie grinned, looking utterly delighted. "Holy shit.”

Ruby grinned back. “Everyone we invited came.”

"We have a good family." She pointed imperiously. "Now go take a seat while I run my kitchen. I'll see you later.”

“Kick ass!” she called after her. She made her way back to the table, only to hear the doors open again, and her brothers came in. They had Annie Bennett with them, but not Neil or Frances.

"Where are the others?" she asked as George and AJ took turns trying to break her ribs with their hugs.

“Neil wanted to ride in a different car,” George said. “We had to go through JFK and I think he’s overloaded. Franny went with him.”

"Poor guy. I'm surprised he came.”

“Me too, honestly. I thought it was going to be just Franny, but he came with her.”

Ruby made a mental note to ask her mother if there was gossip to be had from the Banners. "Well, come in. You're the last ones and Edie's chomping at the bit to get started.”

“I am starving,” George replied, giving her a squeeze before they headed over to the table. Ruby followed—Neil would probably prefer she wasn’t loitering at the door waiting anyway.

Everyone found their seats, good naturally joking about who they were next to. Her brothers did some dramatic shouting and reaching from their ends of the table until others shushed them. The servers did another round to get drink orders from the handful who didn't have them already, then handed out menus. Ruby noticed Neil and Frances had snuck in at some point and he had a brief conversation with his server who nodded before heading back into the kitchen.

A spontaneous special order would be good practice. Stuff like that would happen all the time. They came over to the table and sat in their seats. Ruby found herself watching them for a moment. He put his hand on the small of Franny’s back as she got into her chair. Franny leaned over way into Neil’s personal space to whisper something, which made him laugh.

That was interesting. It would be normal for anyone else, but she’d known Neil her whole life and he really just didn’t like touching people.

Annie Bennet leaned over and whispered. "They were like that the whole flight out. We're totally suspicious.”

Ruby raised her eyebrows. “I can see why.”

"Franny's always been better at speaking his language.”

“I can ask Asima if she knows anything later,” Ruby replied. She and Edie and Asima were all pretty close, even if Asima was working most of her waking hours these days.

"Oh, we intend to interrogate Fran later." The Bennet girls were alway in each other's business. "I'll report back if I hear anything.”

“It’s probably not any of our business.” But she was curious anyway.

"Please. We're the Tower Kids. Everything is our business.”

Ruby laughed. “Fair enough.”

A couple big trays of appetizers came out, then, just as they were getting low, a line of waiters with entrees appeared. For a few minutes the roar of conversation lowered as people ate.

Ruby decided to get up and go check on the kitchen, partly just to tell Edie the food was awesome.

She found her prepping desserts but she looked up when Ruby came in and offered her a smile. "Hey. Any explosions yet.”

“Nope. Everyone is happy. The food is fantastic.”

"Of course it is. How are the servers doing?”

“Very good from what I’ve seen.” She glanced over her shoulder. “So, not to gossip. . .”

Edie's brows went up. “But?"

“Neil and Franny may be hooking up.”

"You're shitting me.”

Ruby shook her head. “A lot of casual touching going on. Which for him is not casual.” You kind of had to ask for permission before you touched Neil, even just a hand on the shoulder or whatever.

Edie's brows went even higher. "There's bacon in the trees.”

“Indeed. Ask Asima if she ducks in here, eh?”

"Oh, believe me I will. Anything else good?”

Ruby shook her head. “I think that was plenty.”

"I'm sure it will be the talk of the town once it hit Avengerville.”

“That and how your restaurant is fabulous.”

"How long till your dad comes to give my poor waiters heart attacks?”

Ruby sighed, and ducked out of the way of one of the servers bringing back a tray of empty dinner plates. “I wouldn’t expect it to be more than a week.”

"We'll get good quickly," Edie said with a smile. "Are you having fun being hostess?”

“I am. Apparently I have a little socialite in me yet.”

"Your mother would be proud." She waved a chocolate and batter coated hand at her. "Go on. Dessert is about to be served.”

“Will you come out and eat it with us? People want to see you.”

"Yeah, I'll come out with the servers and have a seat. Even I cannot resist my molten chocolate cake.”

Ruby waved, and went back out into the dining room, where conversation was at uproarious levels. People were moving seats to chat in different permutations, as was often the case at parties between dinner and dessert.

She plopped down in a seat near Asima, Rei Wilson, and two of the Bennet girls. Annie was telling "TV people are crazy" stories, the way only a comedy writer could while Rei countered with her "no, fashion people are way worse" tales.

“Sure, sure,” Asima said. “Any of you have a man tell you he’s the messiah, smuggle two chickens in a backpack and let them loose in the ER and then piss on the ceiling, then you can talk about crazy people.”

“Get her drunk and she’ll tell you about the stuff people have gotten stuck up their ass and had to come get removed,” Ruby added.

"We keep a little box behind the nurses station," Asima confirmed. "For reminiscing.”

“That’s gross,” Ruby said.

“Are you complaining about your ER rotation again?” Roger Barnes called from across the table. 

"Talking about things in people's butts," she called back.

“Funny, that was a feature of my ER rotation, too.”

Asima and Roger were both in their medical residencies, and they were weirdly competitive about it. It had been worse during their internships, when they’d competed for who could handle the largest amount of sleep deprivation. Asima had kind of won that. Ruby thought it was obvious a woman would. Babies had been training women to evolve that way for millions of years.

The servers came through to clear the plates, then Edie made her appearances, trailed by a group of waiters carrying dessert. The collected cousins cheered and applauded and she grinned, ducking a little bow before finding herself a seat. People began to dig in to their desserts as they were served. Ruby caught Edie’s eye and gave her a thumbs up. She grinned and winked, lifting her forkful of cake as if in a toast.


	2. Complete List of First Gen Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ada will be getting her own story in the Tales Next Gen series. The rest of the list if fair game. We have a couple written (posting soon) and a few more plotted/planned.

**Tony Stark and Pepper Potts**

Ruby Stark-Potts  
George Stark-Potts  
Anthony (Jr) Stark-Potts

**Steve and Sharon Rogers**

Joseph (Joey) Rogers  
James (Jamie) Rogers  
Margaret (Maggie) Rogers

**Bruce and Violet Banner**

Ada Banner  
Neil Banner  
Asima Banner  
Antoine (AB) Banner

**Bucky and Amanda Barnes**

Edith (Edie) Barnes  
Roger Barnes

**Cal and Darcy Bennet**

Frances Bennet  
Elinor Bennet  
Anne Bennet  
Emma Bennet

**Sam and Lani Wilson**

Rei Wilson  
Sasha Wilson

**Pietro and Ora Maximoff**

Agata Maximoff  
Inez Maximoff

**Wanda and Zev Taschengregger**

Alexi Taschengregger  
Esther Taschengregger  
Judith Taschengregger  
Dimitri Taschengregger  
Levi Taschengregger  
Ilya Taschengregger  
Rose Taschengregger  
Leah Taschengregger


End file.
